the Buddha transl. Thanissaro wrote:"And what is the treasure of discernment? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones is discerning, endowed with discernment of arising & passing away — noble, penetrating, leading to the right ending of stress. This is called the treasure of discernment."From: Dhana Sutta translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

In the 1932 Pali Text Society translation E.M. Hare's translation is "the way of growth and decay".

Ajahn Chah in The Mindful Way BBC film talked about "living in harmony with nature, contemplating the nature of things to understand that all forms of life degenerate and eventually die, that all life has the characteristic of the breath it rises and it falls, that everything that is born expires. So his suffering diminishes as he knows nothing belongs to him."

I'm thinking that arising and passing away isn't like a flash of lightning. When something passes away it doesn't mean that it is annihilated. There is a meditative attainment called the base of nothingness but it is also impermanent.

dhammapal wrote:"And what is the treasure of discernment? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones is discerning, endowed with discernment of arising & passing away — noble, penetrating, leading to the right ending of stress. This is called the treasure of discernment."

I'm thinking that arising and passing away isn't like a flash of lightning. When something passes away it doesn't mean that it is annihilated.

It's indeed not like a flash of lightning, it's conditioned arising and passing away, which, in case of the physical body, may take a hundred years.

There's also a more subtle arising and passing, which is when sense impressions start to arise and pass, come and go, change, flux, very rapidly, like a seethe of bubbles in boiling water, or a shaken can of coke , or a fast flicker of a TV screen. Sounds can break down into tiny individual bits of noise, vision can flicker or kind-of strobe, tactile sensations can become... I dunno, it's hard to describe. Seething.This can lead to the shocking insight that everything is impermanent, everything (or at least everything we can sense) is constantly changing, arising and passing away both on a mundane and supramundane level.It's pretty cool.

There's also a stage on the Progress of Insight, the 4th Nana, which is called Knowledge of Arising and Passing. This is the stage where you see into the arising and passing of phenomena I referred to above.

at each act of noticing, he sees: "The noticed object, having arisen, disappears instantly." It also becomes clear to him that each object disappears just where it arises; it does not move on to another place.

In that way he understands by direct experience how bodily and mental processes arise and break up from moment to moment. It is such knowledge and understanding resulting from the continuous noticing of bodily and mental processes as they arise and dissolve moment after moment, and the discernment, in separate sections, of the arising and passing away of each of them, while being free from the corruptions, that is called "final knowledge of contemplation of arising and passing away." This is the beginning of "purification by knowledge and vision of the course of practice," which starts from this insight and extends to adaptation knowledge

Then, saturated with joy, you will put an end to suffering and stress.SN 9.11

"Samudaya - seeing of arising of phenomena, passing away of phenomena, and also the stage of udayabbaya-ñana, the knowledge of arising and passing away of phenomena, all those are spoken of as if they were the same thing. Many people, when they experience the phenomena of arising, and the phenomena of passing in their practice, they refer to it as the knowledge of arising and passing, which is an error.

Before yogi arrives at udayabbaya-ñana, the knowledge of arising and passing, it takes a lot of time. Even to come to samudaya– seeing of arising and seeing of ceasing, the mind has to have calmed down and the yogi has to arrive at purification of view first, and only subsequently he arrives at samudaya. I can’t accept that the person who is doing all sorts of other things can arrive at this level of knowledge within ten days. To think that a person can arrive at knowledge of arising and passing in two, three weeks or so is a joke.

In the Lord Buddha’s time, just by hearing short words of the Buddha, some people arrived at insight and the Satipatthana states in half a day, or one day, in seven days or seven years. Different people can arrive at knowledge in short periods of time as well. In the Lord Buddha’s time there were such individuals."

This is an excerpt from Dhamma talk given by Ven. Pemasiri Thera. Ven. Pemasiri says that a meditator does not need to know these terms or their meaning, and that having learned theory before gaining certain experience or level in meditation those kind of theory can be a burden as a meditator might just sit there thinking: "is this such and such knowledge, is this such and such state, is this samatha,... vipassana... first jhana...?" One can also attain stages of enlightenment without knowing any of these terms and being able to recognize any of those states and phenomena. Being able to understand those knowledges through thinking is not likely. Once can either experience them in meditation, or 'spontaneously' providing there is existence of the right conditions. Different teachers teach in different ways and some of them may explain all those terms to a meditator. Also, we all experience and describe things in different ways, so when talking about things like this, misunderstanding, disagreement and confusion may arise despite us all talking about the same thing.

"Now, if anyone would develop these four frames of reference in this way for seven years, one of two fruits can be expected for him: either gnosis right here & now, or — if there be any remnant of clinging/sustenance — non-return.

"Let alone seven years. If anyone would develop these four frames of reference in this way for six years... five... four... three... two years... one year... seven months... six months... five... four... three... two months... one month... half a month, one of two fruits can be expected for him: either gnosis right here & now, or — if there be any remnant of clinging/sustenance — non-return.

"Let alone half a month. If anyone would develop these four frames of reference in this way for seven days, one of two fruits can be expected for him: either gnosis right here & now, or — if there be any remnant of clinging/sustenance — non-return.

"'This is the direct path for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow & lamentation, for the disappearance of pain & distress, for the attainment of the right method, & for the realization of Unbinding — in other words, the four frames of reference.' Thus was it said, and in reference to this was it said."

The only passage that I can find that may help with understanding the time-scale is this one:

"And what, bhikkhus, is the faculty of wisdom? Here, bhikkhus, the noble disciple is wise; he possesses wisdom directed to arising and passing away, which is noble and penetrative, leading to the complete destruction of suffering. He understands as it really is:'This is suffering.' He understands as it really is:'This is the origin of suffering.' He understands as it really is:'This is the cessation of suffering.' He understands as it really is:'This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering.' This is called the faculty of wisdom."

[Bhikkhu Bodhi, Connected Discourses, page 1673, part of SN 48.10]

So it seems to mean the understanding of the four truths. That this suffering has come to be, that is has a certain cause, that it will cease when the cause is removed, and that there is a practice which will lead to the cessation of this suffering.

James the Giant wrote:There's also a more subtle arising and passing, which is when sense impressions start to arise and pass, come and go, change, flux, very rapidly, like a seethe of bubbles in boiling water, or a shaken can of coke , or a fast flicker of a TV screen. Sounds can break down into tiny individual bits of noise, vision can flicker or kind-of strobe, tactile sensations can become... I dunno, it's hard to describe. Seething.This can lead to the shocking insight that everything is impermanent, everything (or at least everything we can sense) is constantly changing, arising and passing away both on a mundane and supramundane level.It's pretty cool.

"And what is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to mindfulness & alertness? There is the case where feelings are known to the monk as they arise, known as they persist, known as they subside. Perceptions are known to him as they arise, known as they persist, known as they subside. Thoughts are known to him as they arise, known as they persist, known as they subside. This is the development of concentration that, when developed & pursued, leads to mindfulness & alertness.